


I Had a Right to Know.

by onlyhereforellick



Category: NCIS
Genre: 17x01 alternate scene, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-10-21 12:56:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20693903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlyhereforellick/pseuds/onlyhereforellick
Summary: “I had a right to know. She was a sister to me.”





	I Had a Right to Know.

**Author's Note:**

> welllll this one ended up somewhere WAY different that I had originally thought out 🤷🏻♀️ But here’s a take I had on one of the promo scenes!
> 
> and also its probably OOC for McGee, but who knows, we all do crazy things when people we love are resurrected from the dead 🙃

Locking the office door behind her as she turned to go, her insides were swirling. The note Ziva left all but confirmed Ellie’s growing suspicions in Gibbs’ basement—Ziva was without a doubt, alive, AND she was with Gibbs, in danger. 

The note said very little, a name Ellie didn’t recognize and two simple words, ‘ _send help_. ’ That was it, that was all Ziva left her. And oh, she was positive it was Ziva—that handwriting was etched into the back of her eyelids from many a sleepless nights just, thinking, about her and Tony and Tali. 

_Eleanor Bishop,_

_For the safety of my family,_

_Please keep my secret_. 

Ellie had barely slept a wink since. Every time she went into work and looked Gibbs and McGee in the eye and mentioned nothing, her gut twisted. Every time she messaged with Tony or FaceTimed with Tali and didn’t tell them, a tiny piece of her died. She almost told Nick one night. That night she royally screwed up and joked about him being a murderer, she almost told him. To accuse her best friend of murder, clearly she wasn’t right in the head. The lack of sleep, the anxiety, it was affecting her more than she cared to admit. And so she caught herself halfway to his place ready to spill Ziva’s secret, but she couldn’t. She even stopped outside his apartment, parked on the street, and warred with herself for 15 minutes debating if she should go in. At the 14 minute mark she looked over to her passenger seat and saw Ziva’s scarf that she had taken from the office, and she knew. She might not have met Ziva yet, but she’d be damned if she was the reason anything happened to Tony or Tali. So she drove away, allowing the secret to continue to eat at her day by day. 

Until today, when the team was processing Gibbs’ basement and found an empty journal. A journal that was eerily similar to hundreds of other journals she had poured over in recent months. A journal that matched Ziva’s set, perfectly. The team wrapped up the crime scene and Ellie made an excuse to go, she had to come back here, alone, to see if she was correct or just truly mad at this point. 

Seeing that second note was freeing; finally,  _finally_ , she could tell someone. She could help them. The repercussions of a secret not shared might be rough, but hopefully the team would focus on the good—Ziva is alive. 

Determined to get back to the office stat and start searching for Ziva and Gibbs, she didn’t noticed the car blocking her in. Nor did she notice the perplexed, and slightly upset, man in a button down and suit jacket standing at her car door. Not even the anger in his tone registered when he spoke, “Bishop...what are you doing here?”

Ellie’s head snapped up at the sound of McGee’s voice. Her motivation to get back and find Ziva was so overpowering she didn’t even hesitate to reply, her anxiety vanished after seeing the note, “I had a hunch...the person Gibbs is with...it’s Ziva. She’s alive.”

McGee stood stock still, jaw dropped at the absolutely certainty in Bishop’s tone. Before he could question this newfound revelation, however, Bishop was hurrying around him to open her door and start her car. 

“She’s alive, McGee, and in trouble. We need to go.” And with that, Bishop slammed her door, expertly maneuvered her car around his, and sped off. 

———

Back in the squad room, Ellie was frantically typing away, searching for any and all leads. Nick kept eyeing her angry-typing but said nothing, he knew better. Instead, he opened his desk drawer, pulled out a candy bar, placed in on her desk, and returned to his without a word. Momentarily her heart fluttered. It had been doing that around him more recently and she wondered what that meant, but she quickly shoved those thoughts down. She had work to do. 

Not soon after her train of thought fame to a skidding halt when McGee stormed off the elevator and practically chucked his go bag at his wall divider. 

“A word, Bishop?” He asked with barely concealed venom lacing his request.

Confusion swept across Ellie and Nick’s features, with Torres’ eyes going wide with a hint of defensiveness touching his features. 

Ellie followed McGee to the corner by the stairwell and waited, clearly there was something he needed to get off his chest. She just wasn’t sure what that was.  _He should be relieved to find out Ziva’s alive, he should be looking for her!_

“You’ve known.” McGee stated flatly. 

“Wh- what?” Ellie questioned. 

He repeated his earlier words: “you’ve known.” She stared blankly at him. “For how long?” He added. 

And suddenly it clicked; McGee had realized Ellie wasn’t just finding out Ziva was alive, and instead, he knew that she knew for a while now. 

Reality crashing back down, coming to grips that the team’s reception of her secret would be complicated, to say the least, Ellie sucked in a breath and was finally able to be honest, “since Morgan Burke.”

It was McGee’s turn to sharply inhale. His face turned stone cold, “you’ve known. For months.”

“I wa—“ Ellie started but was quickly interrupted. 

“No. I had a right to know.” He briefly paused, collecting himself, “She was a sister to me. Like I thought you were.”

There was such malice in his voice with that final statement, the air crackled with unspoken emotion. All Ellie could do was stand there in shock; she had expected him to be upset, but she had not expected him to take it out on her. He sharply turned on his heel to go before Ellie could even scrounge together a reply. Attempting to shrug off the shock of their interaction, she rushed after him, all the way down to autopsy where the rest of the team had convened during their little chat. 

———

“Whoooa, what’s the rush, Bishop? In a hurry to see me?” Nick joked with a wink. 

“Yeah, care to share with the class, Agent Bishop?” McGee practically threw his words at her. 

Either the rest of the team was oblivious to the tension or were actively trying to ignore it. She struggled to put the right words together amongst the anguish and hatred rolling off McGee to her right.

“Gibbs, uh- Gibbs is uh- he’s with Ziva. She’s alive, they need help.” She finally put lamely. 

Kasie was the first to process, “are you saying—“

“Ziva David is freaking alive?!” Nick exclaimed for Kasie. 

Palmer, who had been picking up a dropped file, shot up and was white as a sheet, “I think, I-, I think I need to sit down,” he managed. 

McGee handed Palmer a stool and immediately resumed voicing his disgust with Ellie, “that’s not even the best part, guys! She’s known for  ** _months _ ** and didn’t feel it necessary to tell Ziva’s  _true_ family.” The dig at her being an outsider to the family nucleus not lost on Ellie. “And honestly, she might not have even told us if I hadn’t followed her to Ziva’s office. No Bishop would’ve been fiiiiii-ne keeping thatsecret to herself. Why be honest with us anyways? It’s not like you’re honest with yourself,” he stated as his eyes slid to Nick and then back to her— _whatever the heck that meant_ . 

“Ziva asked me—“ she began to explain but was almost immediately cut off by McGee. 

“The Ziva I know would not have gone to you, an outsider. And Ziva? She would have trusted us, apparently you don’t. Clearly Gibbs was right, you’ll never be like her.” McGee concluded with an air of disdain.

She stood there in silence, blinking back tears and swallowing the lump in throat because McGee’s words cut deep. She took in a shaky breath to defend herself, but—thankfully—Nick decided to intervene, “What the hell, McGee? Back the fuck off.”

“Really, Torres? You’re defending her? Typical. Bet she had already shared her little secret with you, hadn’t she? That display of fake shock was almost believable. We all know there’s something going on there,” McGee claimed while pointedly looking between the two of them. 

Before Ellie could unpack  _that_ , Nick got in McGee’s face real fast. With a hand to his chest, Nick repeated his early sentiment, “Back. Off.”

Unfazed, McGee looked around Nick’s shoulder and spoke directly to Ellie, “I had a right to know. More of a right than your  _boyfriend_ ,“ he sneered at her. 

Flushed red with embarrassment, disappointment, and all sorts of other emotions she didn’t have the energy to name, she hid behind Nick, like the coward she was, apparently. 

Nick, on the other hand, was having none of it. “Get off your high horse, McGee. Ziva didn’t tell you, so what? Obviously it wasn’t something she wanted broadcasted to the world. Instead of bitching and ripping Ellie a new one for something that was. not. her. fault. how about, we all make ourselves useful and find her.” Ellie thought it would end there, but she was dreadfully wrong. “Oh and I may not be her  _boyfriend_— yet—but damn if I will let you speak to Ellie like that. You certainly have NO right to do that. Treat her with the respect she deserves, or go home.” 

Surely she was a puddle. A melted puddle of goo on the autopsy floor. Ellie could not believe her ears,  _yet_ , Nick had said.  _Did that mean...?_ He likely hadn’t planned it, but his words distracted her enough to where she had almost forgotten the drama that was unfolding rapidly. Almost forgotten until she heard the autopsy doors slide shut and the elevator ding as the rest of the team returned to the bullpen. 

Now it was just her and Nick alone. And Nick had turned around to face her, watching, waiting apprehensively for her to say something, for her to be okay. 

At the moment she had no words, but she had another idea for how to express her gratitude...she tipped her face up and gently pressed her lips to his. Taken aback, but only for a second, Nick was suddenly returning her kiss with force. Hands tangling in her hair at the base of her neck, pulling her flush to him, his tongue teased her lips. One hand drifted from her head to gripping her hip, and she swore she heard a low growl at the back of his throat. A sound that had her melting for all other reasons. Leading her by the hip, he walked her back into an autopsy table. With the  _thud _ that sounded from her back hitting metal, Nick came to and seemed to realize where they were. 

Touching his forehead to hers, chest rapidly rising and falling, he moved both hands to her hips.  _And whew, Lord knew she wanted him to move them elsewhere_ , but she had to say something first. They could discuss that kiss a little later, first Ellie needed Nick to know truly how grateful she was for him coming to her defense. 

“Thanks,” she put simply, barely over a whisper. She knew he’d understand what went unspoken. 

Looking her dead in the eye with more conviction than she’d heard in a long time, “Always, El. I’ll always have your back.”

The most genuine of smiles broke out across her face; the rest of her world might be in turmoil, but finally, something that seemed oh so right.

“And you know though,” a mischievous look morphed on Nick’s face, “I wouldn’t mind you showing  just how thankful you are a little later...if that kiss was any indication” he finished with a wink and a peck on the nose. 

“Nick Torres, you’re impossible!” Ellie threw her head back and lamented with a sigh. 

“Well aren’t all ‘boyfriends’ supposed to be?” he asked with a smirk as he took her in his arms and kissed her until she completely forgot about the storm in the squad room that awaited them. 


End file.
